Driver Quotes for Round 9

Paul Van Splunteren
Nr61 Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R
 “The start was slow. I think the guys wanted to use their torque. I think I got a very good getaway, I was in the right gear, and I could immediately go right and pass the Corvette in front of me. But also, the other Porsche went on the outside, so that was even better. After the first corner, I ended up in second place, and the other Porsche was in 1st place. That went on for a while, and I had to watch my mirror, which I almost did too much. The other Porsche got away, as he had a clean track ahead of him. It wasn’t a very eventful race. I had to let the Corvette go at one point, but I thought it was better to keep on fighting. I went into the pits and my wonderful teammate took over.”

Marco Holzer
Nr61 Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R
 “When I came out, the Corvette was ahead of me, but I was on the straight and he was only coming out of the pits, so he was slower, but I made the right decision, even though it was slippery there, and came out first. The next lap I saw the Porsche at the right side of the pit exit and I knew I was first. The car was fantastic today, I did really good lap times, and Paul did a really fantastic job at the start. I’m really happy. The new Porsche GTR is a fantastic car and much better than last year’s. The car works even very well at high temperatures. I’m a little bit unhappy about my qualifying for tomorrow, as I’m P5, but you can see what can happen at the start, and maybe I have a good start tomorrow and we’ll see then.”

Daniel Keilwitz
Nr101 Callaway Competition Corvette Z06R GT3
”It wasn’t a good start for me. I tried to start off slowly and use my torque, as Paul said. Maybe I was too late on the throttle, or maybe the others were too early, I don’t know. It wasn’t a good start for me. I was in third after the start. I tried not to push so hard to save the tyres for Christian. After I saw that I could get good lap times and at the end of my stint, I was faster than the Porsche and overtook him. Our pitstop wasn’t very good, but we’re very happy with this result. It was a very important victory for the championship. We must save points now. We’re happy, and will try to get points tomorrow too.”

Christian Hohenadel
Nr101 Callaway Competition Corvette Z06R GT3
 “First of all, as Daniel mentioned, I think we lost two seconds in the pits, and Marco overtook me immediately at the exit. The goal was not to win the race, but was to get a safe race and collect as many points as possible.”

Joakim Lambotte
Nr16 Graff Racing Corvette Z06R
 “The start wasn’t that good. I made a good start, but at the first corner there was a little crash in front of me and I had to brake and I lost two positions. The start was okay. The car was great. I was 7th when I pitted, as I’d had a tough fight with a Porsche and a Ferrari, who were so much faster than us in the straight. They were really slowing us down in the rest of the track. I was in front, I made some small mistakes, but our top speed was too low, it was not possible for me to pass them. So I tried to save the tyres for Mike and hope for the best. It’s a great result for us. We’re now in a good 2nd position. We’ve made a small gap on the BMW. The championship’s going to be hard. I’m very proud of all my team because we had a big accident on our car in the French GT championship, and they didn’t sleep for 3 days and did a huge job on our car. So I think they deserve this podium.”

Mike Parisy
Nr16 Graff Racing Corvette Z06R
 “It was a very good race for me, very difficult too. Since the beginning of the weekend, all is new for us, the track, the car. It’s a difficult track, and we have to work a lot. We didn’t have any information concerning the setup or anything. It’s a very good job for the team, for us. In the championship, we’re at a strong second place, so tomorrow will be more difficult. But I think we can improve and try to keep our place. I would like to congratulate my team for all the work they did.”

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